Special Report: Global Financial Crisis
WASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Both the United States and China share common interests in a stable international financial system and the policy adopted by China is providing a very stabilizing role in the system, Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner said here on Monday.
Geithner made the remarks at a news briefing held in the running-up to the Group of 20 (G-20) financial summit scheduled to be held in London on April 2.
Responding to a question about the upcoming meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama in London on April 1, Geithner said "the (U.S.) president said it is very important for the United States that we have a very productive, close relationship on the economic and financial front with China."
He said the Obama administration is committed to such a relationship with China.
"We share a huge interest together in a stable, well-functioning and smooth international financial system. China is playing an enormously important role now. And its policy is providing a very stabilizing role in the system," he said.
"That's very important for the world economy as a whole. I think we'll see both presidents underscore commitment that the relations are going forward," the secretary said.
Asked what the U.S. is expecting of the G-20 meeting in London, Secretary Geithner said the U.S. basically has two agendas: the recovery agenda and the reform agenda. Specifically, he listed some key objectives to be pursued by the U.S. at the London gathering aimed to tackle the ongoing global financial crisis and economic downturn.
According to the secretary, the U.S. will renew its commitment to coordinated and comprehensive action to boost demand and jobs and to take whatever action is necessary until growth is restored.
It will act forcefully to fix the financial system to get lending moving again and ensure that all systemically-important financial firms and products are subject to strong oversight.
The U.S. will also hope to take action to strengthen international standards for weakly-regulated jurisdictions in the prudential, tax haven, and money laundering areas and adopt a robust international regulatory framework to prevent crises of this kind from occurring again.
The secretary said that discouraging protectionism and economic nationalism is also one of the key objectives of the U.S. at the summit.
"It's very important to reconfirm our commitment to avoid protectionism and commitment to an open trade policy," he said.
Addressing another question from a reporter, Geithner reiterated U.S. position in support of a strong U.S. dollar.
"The policy of the United States is a strong dollars is in the interests of the United States," he said. "I believe the dollar will be the principle reserve currency for a very long time to come."
"I think our challenge together is trying to make sure each of us is putting in place policies that will help strengthen our production capacity and our economic fundamentals to make sure that as we move to support recovery, we are doing so in a framework that puts our fiscal position back to into balance," he said.
Chinese central bank governor calls for financial reforms
MEDELLIN, Colombia, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan on Saturday urged for international financial reforms in the face of the global economic downturn.
Zhou made the remarks in the Colombian city of Medellin where he is attending a five-day Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) meeting.
China can be the first to recover from global downturn: gov't economist
BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- China can be the first country to "regain relatively fast growth" amid the global financial crisis because of its economic foundation and stimulus policies, said a government economist here Saturday.
China has several conditions to sustain a relatively strong economic expansion, said Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council, or the Cabinet, at an economic forum.
China raises export rebate to spur growth
BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- China raised the export rebate on3,800 items to maintain growth, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) said Friday.
It was the sixth increase since last August when the government decided to raise refunds in an attempt to tackle slumping exports amid the global financial crisis.
Officials brief on boosting domestic demand 
Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong and Minister of Human Resources and Social Security Yin Weimin attended a press conference on "Boost domestic demand, increase employment and sustain economic growth" held by the Second Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 10.
China's 4 trillion package lays foundation for next year's growth: economist
HONG KONG, March 25 (Xinhua) -- China's announced economic stimulus package, amounting to 4 trillion yuan, will work to achieve the economic growth at 8 percent and lay a good foundation for next year's growth by starting the economy's clean-up process of the inventory this year, China's noted economist Fan Gang said at an international conference here on Wednesday.
Chinese government has unveiled a 4 trillion yuan stimulus plan to prop up the economic growth in a global economic downturn during which China has already suffered a slowdown of GDP growth from above 11 percent in 2007 to 9 percent last year.
